We started the morning by determining that the speakers, in fact, do not fit in the door. I’ll figure out what to do about that once I get home — the new speakers are the same size as the old ones. The old ones fit because the design of the cone is deeper and narrower compared to the frame. That’s not exactly a filter on Amazon’s product search…
So we moved on to mitigating three serious rust issues. One just in front of each door by the wheel wells, and one in the truck bed. The crap catchers by the wheel well look super familiar — the Xterra catches and holds onto mud in the exact same place. After taking a close look at what has become of the truck, I will start cleaning these out with a toothbrush…
We’ve wire brushed down the worst of the rust and covered the surfaces in rust converter to stabilize it. Tomorrow, after it cures, we’ll paint it with some auto primer. It’s red-ish, or so I’m told. Ultimately, this is still a temporary fix, but it buys time.
Meanwhile, we pulled and washed the middle seat belt, which I apparently have. It was disgusting. I’m pretty sure George and Evan can never use their sink again. Once it dried though, we were able to put the bench back in!
After that, I drove the truck back into the bay, confirming that the clutch definitely needed to be bled again. At last, I refilled the transmission’s gear oil! That was an odd experience. And then we redid the clutch bleed.
Then we did some odds-and-ends in the engine bay, sealed everything back up, did a light cleaning of the garage, and got ready for a test drive! Not gonna lie — mildly nervous.
We took a short tour through the neighborhood and back to the house. It was great! The brakes are still squishier than I feel like they’re supposed to be, but we also still maintain the did the bleed correctly. Otherwise, the clutch is happier, the transmission sounds happy enough, and no signs of coolant or hydraulic leaks. And the bench is comfy! Also the whole cab has been really cleaned out and looks nice. Still wish I had a radio, though.
We did discover that the left front blinker was out until we fixed it by wiggling it — so clearly that socket needs to be replaced. Also one of my reverse lights is out. But I’m content to keep those on the to-do list alongside the radio and speaker problems.
The only thing that remains is the tailpipe replacement. It’s a welded component. So I guess that means two things: we do have to out-source one part of this adventure, and I won’t be leaving Tulsa on-time. Rats. Whatever will we do? Play video games all night? Sounds good to me!
